John 3:1-21 "Seeing With Nicodemus Eyes"

ME (Testimony)

Mathew 8:23-27, “And when he got into the boat his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves…And they woke him, saying, “save us Lord, we are perishing!”. And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” THen he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And then the men marveled saying “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”. And Marks account says in 4:39-41, “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be Still!”. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

TRANSITION:

I have gotten very little sleep this week. Travel wore me out more than expected. I had a difficult and burdensome conversation with my mother in law. I am tired and I feel unprepared. However I suspect I am right where Jesus wants me to be, utterly reliant and dependent on him and his Spirit in me. I talk all the blame for what is about to go wrong, but Jesus gets all the credit and the glory for all that goes right. Let us pray.

PRAYER: Jesus, we want to see you. We confess to you that we don’t look to you enough. Indeed, some of us have never looked to you. Some of us have never seen you. And some of us, though we have seen you in the past, as of late have felt utterly unable to see you now. We confess to you Jesus that we have allowed sin and Satan, the fallenness of this world and the distractions and cares of earthly things to create a barrier to our vision of you. We repent of those distractions of which we have allowed ourselves to be so easily entangled. Or will is to turn from such things and overcome them through our looking unto you Jesus. But we know that only you can open the eyes of our hearts to see you Lord. And we know that it is only by the power of your Spirit that we can see rightly. We ask then, Jesus, our King and our Redeemer, that your Holy Spirit would be our teacher and our guide this morning. That you Spirit, would illuminate our minds and give us understanding. That you would apply your inspired Word to our hearts that we would see and savor Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And we ask that our joy would be full, that we would be filled and overflowing onto others around us, with the love with which you loved the world, and the loving relationship you have had with the Father since before all creation and in eternity. We humbly ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the only name by which man can be given true everlasting life. Amen.

WE (Tension)

We are like Nicodemus. We are unable to see Jesus without his help. Without Jesus’s Holy Spirit written Word and without Jesus’s Holy Spirit as our teacher and our guide we are just like Nicodemus. We are unable to see Jesus.

ILLUSTRATION:

My wife and I recently watched the movie the MUMMY RETURNS with my parents. In the movie there is a little boy who (against his parents commands) puts on this ancient bracelet that gets locked onto him. It shows the wearer of it a series of visions of different places to go. When one follows each vision, arriving to the destination previously shown, a new vision is given to the wearer where then they go to the next location and see another vision. Eventually the visions and places all lead to the ultimate temple where there is the greatest of all treasures in the world.

I believe that Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the words of the Spirit written Scriptures, he is performing the function of the bracelet in this conversation with Nicodemus. He is guiding him with different visions to see different facets of Jesus but that lead to an ultimate understanding of who Jesus really is, as the greatest treasure in all the universe. And I believe, that John’s Gospel as a whole, is taking us on that same journey. For John says in in John 20:30-31, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.“ In referring to the crucifixion account John says, “He who saw it has borne witness, his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth that you also may believe!”

This sermon then is titled “Seeing With Nicodemus Eyes” because John wants us to see what Nicodemus saw. And this is based on what Jesus wanted Nicodemus to see. And after Nicodemus saw Jesus with new eyes, he began to speak up in Jesus defense to the feared Pharisees in John 7:47-52 “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” He even boldly lived out his new vision of Jesus in John 19:39 “Nicodemus, also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.“

So whatever Nicodemus came to see, quickly resulted in a 180 degree turn in his life. He began to see the world and scriptures differently, speak differently and challenge others who were hostile to Christ, he offered up his wealth and resources (myrrh and aloes) and ultimately proclaimed with his actions in burying Jesus publicly that he was willing to loose everything for the gain of what he saw in Jesus. (Removed from synagogue, which meant loss of status, authority, patronage, wealth, work, home, people, family, friends, comfort, security, gaining public disgrace, dishonor, shame and rejection)

GOD (On Scene W/Nicodemus)

SETTING UP THE SCENE: In order to see what Nicodemus saw we have to set the scene. This account may be recorded at the beginning of the gospel of John but it chronologically took place at the end of Jesus’s ministry. After the cleansing of the temple but still before the arrest, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Nicodemus is a well regarded ruler and teacher of the prominent Pharisee sect of Jews of Jesus’s day. The same sect the Apostle Paul was from.

SIGNS:

Pick the miraculous signs that show how Jesus is God.

YOU (Gospel Proclamation)

You are offered ”eternal life”. Jesus defines eternal life in Johns Gospel in this way, “And this is eternal life, that that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ that you have sent”. So eternal life is to know God and to be known by God. In what way? In the way the Son of God has known God for all eternity! In John 17:5 Jesus mentions the glorious presence that he had with the Father before the world existed and in vs.26 he says that the love with which the Father has loved him would be in us also. Romans 8:14-17 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God…you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…”

WE (Challenge to Accept Jesus and our Life in Him)

Jesus brought Nicodemus to a point of decision. (tell what girl on treadmill at gym said to to me)